Manufacture of elastic fabrics



Feb. 17,1942. F. F. SCHWARTZ ETAL 2,273,148

MANUFACTURE OF ELASTIC FABRICS Filed March 24, 1938 Patented Feb. 17, 1942 MANUFACTURE OF ELASTIC FABRICS Fernand Frederic Schwartz and Marc Alfred Chavannes, Paris, France, assignors, by mesne assignments, to

American Ecla Corporation,

Dover, Del., a corporation of Delaware Application March 24, 1938, Serial No. 197,935 In FranceMarch 25, 1937 2 Qlaims.

In co-pending United States application No. 112,972 there is described a process for he manufacture of elastic fabrics in which rubber latex is applied to the surface of a woven or knitted fabric so that only the projecting parts are covered with a network which firmly adheres to the fabric. In that process the latex is applied to the fabric by spraying under special conditions and the union of two similarly coated fabrics is also described.

Co-pending United States applications Serial Nos. 113,326 and 162,892 describe a process and apparatus for carrying out the manufacture of an elastic product of the type disclosed in United States application No. 112,972, now Patent No. 2,184,153, granted December 19, 1939.

Again, in co-pending United States application Serial No. 112,973 a process is described for the preliminary preparation of woven or knitted fabrics prior to applying latex to them by spraying, this preliminary treatment consisting in producing projecting portions on the fabric by em bossing. One method of accomplishing this is to apply to the fabric to be embossed a dressing adapted to be hardened by the influence of heat or the like so as to stiffen the fabric, and retain it in any condition or shape in which it may be placed. The fabric so treated with this dressing may be passed between surfaces capable of imparting a desired embossed effect to the surface I! of the fabric so that this surface will have certain projecting or salient portions in relief and other portions depressed. This may be accomplished through the use of an appropriately engraved cylinder. necessary heat to produce the hardening action upon the dressing applied to the fabric may also be imparted. This method and another method involving the use of a paper backing for the fabric to enable th latter to retain its embossed condition are described more fully in our Patent No. 2,193,496 granted March 12, 1940.

It is an object of the present inventionto pro vide an improved method of forming a composite elastic fabric. I

In the various methods described in the abovernentioned pending applications a pair of fabrics is similarly treated with latex by spraying so as to form on each of them a resistant network of rubber. The two networks are then united face to face.

In accordance with the present invention a resistant network is fo: med only on one of the surfaces to be united, the other surface being provided only with a thin spraying of latex for ex- During the embossing operation the z;

ample with a coating just suflicient to enable the two fabrics to stick together.

This method possesses considerable advantages. Thus, it is necessary to carry out an embossin operation such as that described in copending United States application Serial No. 112,973 on one of the fabrics only. Further, the other fabric need only be subjected to spraying for a few moments and it will thus be appreciated that the manufacture of composite fabrics is not only simplified but rendered more rapid and economical. Again, the present invention may be applied with advantage to the making of a composite elastic fabric from two fabrics of different characteristics. Thus, in the manufacture of elastic suspender belts or corsets it is possible to employ a strong and resistant fabric for the layer nearest the body, which fabric is also capable of being embossed and of uniting firmly with the latex network deposited thereon by spraying.

The outer fabric may be finer, lighter, more delicate and may be dyed in colours which are more sensitive than those of the underneath fabric.

The present invention possesses a further advantage in that extra thicknesses of rubber or fabric are avoided. If, for example, two fabrics each carrying'parallel lines of rubber produced by spraying latex upon the embossed fabrics are superposed and if the fabrics are brought together so that the lines of rubber are crossed, small protuberances are formed at the points of intersection of the lines of rubber and when the thickness of the lines of rubber is such that they have a considerable resistance to deformation the thickness of the said protuberances is considerable. According to the present invention if only one of the fabrics is provided with lines of rubber, protuberances due to crossing of such lines will be avoided. Similarly, extra thicknesses are avoided when only one of the two fabrics is provided with squares or rectangles formed in rubber on the fabrics. Finally, when two fabrics, each carrying a normal network of rubber are stuck together, the extensibility of the final product formed by the two fabrics is reduced for various reasons, particularly on account of the welding of the rubber bands at the crossing points. This disadvantage is avoided if one of the fabrics is only slightl coated with latex.

According to a modification of the present invention it is possible to deposit on one of the fabrics an amount of rubber latex slightly greater than that, required for ensuring its adhesion to .the other fabric, the latex forming a very light network of thin threads. In this case embossing lar sections with slightly rounded edges. The

projecting parts may alternatively be given the form of an inverted V and in this case the spray of latex is deposited in maximum amount on the ridges of the Vs the quantity deposited decreasing on moving away from the ridges. The section of the elastic elements is in this case that of an elongated lens.

Flat or more or less elongated elements of latex rubber formed into a network or into parallel lines have the advantage that it is possible to make fabrics of slight thickness which are very strongand offer considerable resistance to stretch. A fabric associated with rubber elements which are square or round in section and of similar cross-sectional area would be of much greater thickness and therefore of smaller commercial value. It follows that products made in accordance with the present invention possess a smaller thickness for equal resistance to stretch than fabrics containing woven threads of rubber which are round or square in cross-section.

A further advantage of fabrics made .in accordance with the present invention is that they may be made with a resistance to expansion which is greatly superior to that of a fabric containing woven threads of rubber since the number and size of such woven threads is limited.

It is a further object of the invention to impart to elastic elements of the network formed on the surface of an embossed fabric unsymmetrical sections and this is achieved by directing the spray of latex on to the fabric at an angle to the normal. It is possible during the embossing operation to impress on the fabric not only parallel straight lines but also sinuous lines, the spacking of which may vary from one point to another. By this means it is possible to obtain composite fabrics which have different strengths at different parts.

During the superposition of coated fabrics made inaccordance with the present invention it is possible to interpose between them any appropriate reinforcing members or elements such as whalebones springs, pieces of leather, canvas strips or. the like. These members are firmly embedded and fixed between the two fabrics. In order that the adhesion between the reinforcing members and the fabric may be increased the reinforcing members may be made of or coated with materials to which the latex sticks during the superposition of the fabrics.

Insteadof embedding reinforcing members in the compcsitefabric during its manufacture it is possible merely to make provision for their insertion later so that the corset maker for example may introduce the whalebones, springs or other reinforcement during the making-up process. For this purpose the composite elastic fabric is provided with places where the two fabrics are not stuck together so as to leave passages wherein the reinforcing members may be inserted. This result may be obtained by placing masks on the fabric during the spraying operation or by inserting between the two fabrics at the moment of assembly, sheaths or cases of cloth or other material.

Following is a description by way of example and with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawing of methods of carrying the invention into effect.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 shows a piece of fabric ll having a spray of latex l2 applied to one of its surfaces from a spray gun [3.

Figure 2 shows two pieces of fabric [4 and I5 sprayed with latex as shown in Figure 1, the fabric I5 having a relatively thick coating of latex l6 and the fabric l4 a thin coating IT. The fabrics are united by means of the pressing rollers l8.

A sheet of fabric l9 (Figure 3) is embossed by the process described in co-pending United States application Serial No. 112,973, sprayed as shown in Figure 1 with a plurality of layers of latex and united with a second sheet (Figure 4) which issimilarly sprayed only with a coating of latex sufiicient to adhere effectively with the coating on the fabric l9.

Figure 5 shows a fabric 2| embossed so as to form inverted V-shaped projections.

Figure 6 shows on an enlarged scale the type of latex coating produced on such a projection, the coating 22 being shown on a projection 23.

Figure 7 shows a projection 24 on a fabric 25 which is subjected to spraying with latex 26 projected from a spray gun 21 at an angle to the normal of the surface of the fabric 25. The unsymmetrical deposit of latex is shown at 28.

In Figure 8 a fabric 29 has laid upon its surface a series of strips 30 e. g. of metal constituting a mask preventing the latex spray 3| from the spray gun 32 from reaching the fabric at those points.

Two similarly masked fabrics 33 and 34 one (33) coated with a heavy coating of latex 35 and the other (34) with a thin coating of latex 36 are united face to face as shown in Figure 9 and reinforcing members are subsequently inserted in the pockets 3'! (Figure '10).

Figure 11 shows reinforcing members 38 between fabrics 39 and 40 coated with heavy and light coatings of latex 4| and 42 respectively immediately prior to assembly.

Figure 12 shows a similar pair of fabrics 43 and 44 with latex coatings 45 and 46 and pockets 4'! to accommodate reinforcing members placed in position between the fabrics immediately prior to assembly. a

We claim:

1. A process for the manufacture of a composite elastic and porous fabric consisting of at least two sheets of woven or knitted textile fabric joined together by means of latex rubber applied thereto by spraying which process consists in subjecting one of a pair of surfaces to be united to an embossing treatment by the aid of an engraved cylinder so as to bring selected parts of the surface into relief, applying to that surface a plurality of coatings of rubber latex in the form of a finely-divided spray to form a porous, resistant network of such a thickness as to support substantially all of the stresses to which the .composite fabric is to be subjected, forming on the other surface by spraying a porous coating of such a thickness only as to insure the effective union of the two coated surfaces and bringing the two surfaces together so as to unite them.

2. A process for the manufacture of a composite elastic and porous fabric consisting of a strong and heavy woven or knitted textile fabric and a fine textile fabric joined together by means of latex rubber applied thereto by spraying, which process consists in applying to a surface of the strong fabric a porous, resistant, heavy network of rubber consisting of a plurality of coatings of latex and of such a thickness as to support substantially all of the stresses to which the com- 10 surfaces together under such conditions that of I fective union takes place.

FERNAND FREDERIC SCHWARTZ. MARC ALFRED CHAVANNES, 

